The French hard-left leader's ties to Jeremy Corbyn: Jean-Luc Melenchon is a friend of the ex-Labour leader and Israel critic… and has defended him from accusations of anti-Semitism

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the hard-left ‘France Unbowed’ (LFI) party, shares a number of things in common with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. 

The comparison was drawn frequently in the run-up to the French parliamentary elections this past weekend.

But it has become all the more pertinent since the shock victory of the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance – of which Melenchon’s LFI is the largest constituent party – over Emmanuel Macron’s centrists and Marine Le Pen’s…